John Madara was born on May 28, 1936 and grew up in Philadelphia, at a time when the city was teeming with groups and artists such as The Spaniels, The Clovers, Harvey and The Moonglows, Billy Ward and The Dominos and the great Jackie Wilson. Rock and roll was starting to take root and John Madara was destined to make rock and roll history.
In 1957, John launched his solo career, with his first record, "Be My Girl," reaching the National charts. That same year, John co-wrote with Dave White a song called "Do The Bop." On the advice of Dick Clark, whose local show, American Bandstand, had just gone National, the title and lyrics were changed to "At The Hop." Danny and The Juniors recorded it, and by
Christmas of 1957 it had reached the top of the pop and R&B charts worldwide. "At The Hop" remained #1 for an astounding 7 weeks, the first record ever to reach that success, and
it has remained a rock and roll classic to this day.
Barry) and “You Don’t Own Me” (Lesley Gore). He also produced for Danny and The Juniors, “Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay."
In the Mid ‘60s, John, Dave and local D.J. Ray Gilmore formed a group called “The Spokesmen” and released “The Dawn of Correction," an answer song to the enormous hit “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire. At the same time, John was producing for other artists when he discovered a young man, Leon Huff, who later teamed up with Kenny Gamble and became one of the most prolific songwriting teams in the history of rock and roll, defining an entire category of Black popular music known as "The Sound of Philadelphia." He also discovered one of the most prolific duos of all time, Daryl Hall and John Oates. With them he produced two albums.
In 1965, John and Dave started their own publishing company, discovering and signing new songwriters. The company was very successful, and in 1984, it was sold to Michael Jackson.
In 1967, John, Dave and Local D.J. Ray Gilmore wrote the song, "Sadie The Cleaning Lady," which became a huge hit in Australia with singer, Johnny Farnham.
John moved to L.A. in the ‘70s, where he found success writing and producing for movies and television. He produced the soundtrack for the James Caan/Marsha Mason movie, “Cinderella Liberty," and also produced the title song for the Cliff Robertson movie “Ace Eli and Roger of the Sky.” In the mid ‘70s, he was music supervisor for the hugely successful “Sid and Marty Kroft Comedy Hour." This was in conjunction with an ABC Comedy Hour and network special which launched the new ABC season. During that time, John wrote and produced the music for the show, and was hands on with the mixing and editing. In the late ‘70s, he also wrote the theme song for ABC Sports, which ran for two years.
